A/N: Okay, guys, extra long chapter this time, and I kinda hit you with a big revelation that is going to be important to the plot. That's right, this little mindless bit of crossover fluff that I started has now gained an honest to Merlin PLOTLINE! *gasps* Hopefully, I haven't stepped too far out of the realm of suspension of disbelief that you can enjoy this. Please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you guys think. ^_^


Mistaken Identity

- Chapter 4 -


Six Months Post-Battle of Hogwarts


Bill Weasley sat impatiently upon the exam table, awaiting the results of his yearly physical. The upper-level goblins at Gringotts, the place where Bill worked, had sent him to a goblin healer, preferring to use their own medical magic, than wizarding, despite the red headed Curse Breaker not being a goblin himself. He was under Goblin employ after all.

He really didn't see why it was necessary, as he felt in top shape, but his boss had insisted that this year the exam was to be more thorough, considering the aftermath of the war and all of the stray hexes and curses that had been cast amidst the many battles. Looking at the clock on the wall, it showed he'd been waiting in that tiny room for about twenty minutes.

Letting out a long sigh, Bill considered just laying back and taking a nap, but before he was able to follow through on his thought the goblin healer which had conducted his exam entered looking over a clipboard and grumbling to himself.

Bill watched the diminutive doctor approach his table, never once taking his eyes from the medical chart he held. After a moment, when the goblin had yet to address him with neither a greeting nor even the results of his tests, Bill started to become annoyed. Feeling he had been there long enough, he cleared his throat rather loudly, finally drawing the goblin's attention.

"So, what's the diagnosis, doc?" he asked, trying to reign his irritated tone.

The goblin looked up at him pointedly. "Well, Mr. Weasley, it seems to have been a very good idea to be more thorough in our exams this year. At least in your case." the doctor grumbled, looking back down at the paper that held Bill's results.

Bill watched him read over everything once more before again trying to prompt a response.

"And...?"

"Well, it appears we have discovered a deep-seeded Obliviate curse on you, much deeper than any I've ever seen, in fact. We want to remove it in case the curse is blocking any feasible threats to Gringotts on a security level. The chance of there being a breach in protocols is a serious issue that we will not tolerate."

Bill was speechless for a moment, shock taking over at the goblin's words. An Obliviate? Deep-seeded and not noticed until just now? How could that be possible? And who had placed the curse on him?

"But isn't the only way to remove the effects of an Obliviate curse torture?" he finally inquired, his inner-wolf stirring to growl at the implication of possible harm befalling him.

The doctor shook his bulbous head, giving him as much of a reassuring look that a goblin was capable. "Actually no, there's been a new break through recently in the medical field on our end regarding the removal of the Obliviate," he stated a bit proudly. It was something that the goblins had managed to do before the medi-witches and wizards of St Mungo's had. "We can remove the effects as well as heal any minor damage that might have occurred. Major damage will be a bit more difficult, mind, but still within the realm of our capabilities." the goblin, as well as Bill, frowned at this. "Since this is, as I said, a deep-seeded Obliviate, there is a chance of there being some damage. But I promise you that we will do our utmost to take care of this in the safest and most efficient manner."

Fear of possible complications in the procedure, combined with panic at what the curse could be causing him to forget prompted the demi-wolf to come to a decision. "Do it now," he said sharply, pinning the small creature with a look of determination.

The goblin healer directed Bill to another room where the delicate procedure could be conducted more comfortably. After having him lie back onto a bed, the little goblin positioned himself so that he could place his hands close to either side of the wizard's head, near, but not yet touching his temples.

"Now, Mr. Weasley, I ask that you try to relax as much as possible. I cannot guarantee this will go smoothly," the goblin warned.

"Just get on with it," the eldest Weasley son growled.

The healer grumbled under his breath, hovering above the wizard, focusing on the task at hand. For a moment, Bill could only sense a warming sensation near his ears where the goblin's hands had begun to glow, then his body stiffened as a jolting sensation pierced his skull, seeming to dig down into his very brain. He gritted his teeth, writhing against the sharp pain, which caused the goblin medic to snap at his assistant to give the human something to sedate him. A few moments later Bill's eyelids began to grow heavy until, finally, he was unable to keep them open. As his eyes closed, shutting off his view to the present world, his mind opened up, presenting him with a vision of the past.


A hospital room bled into existence around him, though it was unlike the one his physical body was laying in. The memory room was more like the ones found at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and from his vantage point near the door, Bill saw that the room's bed was occupied.

His eyes grew wide in shock when he realized that the person laying on the bed was none other than a younger version of his mother, Molly, and she was heavily pregnant. Bill watched, fascinated, as a younger version of his father stepped forward and took hold of his wife's hand. Bringing it to his lips, Arthur Weasley kissed Molly's hand tenderly before bringing the hand to his chest and cradling it against his heart.

As Bill watched, Arthur turned in his direction and beckoned with his free hand. "Come see your mother, son."

Bill was startled as a tiny figure moved through him. He instantly recognized his seven-year-old self, as he made his way towards his mother's bed. Glancing around the room, he spotted little Charlie, sitting nearby, playing with a bag full of toy animals. The little figurines that had been charmed to move about on their own were currently marching in a little parade around the laughing five-year-old. Not far from Charlie was Percy, who even at two years of age, excelled at everything he did. The toddler was busy coloring on a piece of paper what looked to be a family portrait of the Weasleys and their soon-to-be newest additions.

Turning back, Bill saw that his younger self had climbed up onto the bed next to his Mum, talking to her tummy cheerfully.

"I'm your big brother, Bill. I'm going to look out for you, just like I do with Charlie and Percy. I can't wait to meet you," he heard himself whisper before placing three small kisses on Molly's swollen belly.

Bill remembered this. It was the day the twins had been born. But that couldn't be right..., this was supposed to be a blocked memory. It made no sense that he was witnessing a memory that hadn't been blocked in the first place. Unless... there was something that had happened during the twins' birth that had been locked away?

"Oh, my sweet, sweet boy, are you excited to meet the new babies?" Molly asked, looking down at her oldest son with a smile. The Memory version of himself nodded, a wide grin on his tiny face.

The memory shifted a bit as it progressed, and suddenly Molly was sitting up in her bed as she cuddled two tiny sleeping babies in her arms. Adult Bill grinned to himself, as he was certain that this had to have been the last time the twins had ever been this quiet.

"Aren't they perfect, Molls?"

Drawn by the sound of his father's voice, Bill looked around and suddenly the memory rippled. As if a veil had been parted and drawn back, a scene was revealed to the Curse Breaker that he did not remember seeing on the day of his twin brothers' birth.

Arthur Weasely was sitting in a chair not far from his wife's bed, a large smile on his face and a small bundle in his arms. Bill looked slowly back and forth between his mother and father. Three? There were three of them?

Once again the memory rippled and Bill watched as his parents were again cuddling the three babies in their arms. Arthur perched on the edge of the bed, holding his bundle over so that the smaller him who was settled beside his mum could see while little Charlie and Percy napped on a cot in the corner.

"Oh, Arthur, they're just perfect! Our little Fredrick and George." Molly gushed as she held her two bundles close.

"And our precious Harold," his father added, placing a tender kiss to the forehead of the newborn in his arms. "Can't forget about him, my dear."

"Of course not," Molly chuckled, her eyes gazing lovingly down at little Harold, slumbering peacefully.

Bill was still wrapping his mind around this. Three babies, not twins but triplets, but were was... Had he not lived?

As Adult Bill continued reeling at the revelation he'd just discovered, the door to the hospital room opened and four men in Ministry robes entered. Harold Minchum, the current Minister of Magic at the time of the twins' birth, appeared, flanked by the then Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch Sr. and an Auror Bill did not recognize. The fourth man also wore Ministry robes, but Bill could not tell from which Department he hailed.

"Minister Minchum? You honor us with your presence, sir." Arthur beamed as he rose from the bed, offering a welcoming smile at such an important visitor.

Bill's eyebrows furrowed as once again, this was not in his original memory. What could they want?

The Minister did not return his father's smile, instead, he gestured to Crouch, who was holding a parchment that he immediately began to read.

"Arthur and Molly Weasley, it has been brought to the attention of the Wizengamot that you are in breach of Ministral decree number 343 in which it clearly states that any births resulting in more than two live offspring at once is prohibited. As such, it is demanded that the third child born into the same family on the same day shall be henceforth relinquished into the custody of the Ministry's Child Services where they shall be placed until properly dealt with." he began to roll up the decree as he continued. "Therefore, you are hereby ordered to surrender the last born child immediately."

From her hospital bed, Molly cried out in dismay, her eyes growing wide as they instantly shot to the small bundle in her husband's arms. Arthur's own eyes narrowed in anger at the man who had dared make such a demand of him.

"Whatever for? These are our children and we will do no such thing!" the elder Weasley proclaimed as he held the baby in his arms closer.

Bill had never seen his father so disobedient of a Ministry official before, let alone in the presence of the Minister of Magic himself.

Bartemius scoffed at the insolence being displayed. "By order of the Ministry of Magic and myself, I order you to hand over that child."

In horror, Bill watched as the unknown man stepped forward and reached to take baby Harold from Arthur's arms. His Memory self, who was still beside his mother on the bed, was trying his best to comfort a now crying Molly while the commotion had awoken the two younger Weasely sons. They sat on their small cot, watching in confusion.

"No!" Molly sobbed as she tried to get up, but was unable to due to Fred and George in her arms.

Arthur reached forward to take the baby back but was Stupefied by the other man dressed in Auror robes before he was able to get a hold of his son.

As her husband lay incapacitated on the hospital floor, Molly pleaded with the Minister as the twins began to sense their mother's upset and began to squall.

"My baby!" she sobbed, "You cannot take my child! This is inhumane!"

"It's the law," the Minister stated coldly. "I made sure it passed myself. The power of three is too dangerous to be allowed to exist with You Know Who rising in power."

"How can you expect us to just let you do this?" Molly asked them, desperation straining her voice.

The Minister seemed to be growing tired of being defied. "I didn't expect you to simply let us do it," he said coldly. Turning to the Auror, he gave one simple order before stalking out of the room. "Obliviate the lot of them," he growled. The official who held baby Harold - who was now crying as loudly as Fred and George - followed quickly behind Minchum.

Adult Bill's horror grew, if at that point it was even possible, as he watched wands being withdrawn from holsters and pointed at the younger Weasley clan.

Molly had called Percy and Charlie, her eyes never leaving the wands being pointed at her entire family. Arthur, still prone on the floor from the Stupify he'd been hit with, was making sounds of protest as a look of fear filled his eyes. Adult Bill felt sick to his stomach as he watched in complete mortification.

"Obliviate!"


Bill bolted upright in the small bed, regretting the action instantly as a wave of pain accompanied by nausea assaulted him. It forced him to lie back down, a deep groan of discomfort escaping his lips as he did so. A movement to his left alerted him to the presence of someone else in the room. Then the someone spoke, identifying himself.

"Careful, Mr. Weasley, you will be suffering from one of the side-effects of the Obliviate removal for a bit longer now that you are conscious. Unfortunately, we ended up having to sedate you due to your rather unexpected thrashing about. Although, despite the anesthetic, you were still quite mobile. Whatever memory we unearthed when we removed the curse must have been quite shocking to you."

Bill managed to grit through the pain in order to look over to see the goblin who had been the healer for his physical and consequent operation that had been prompted by the results of the exam.

Slowly, through the piercing discomfort of a headache, he was experiencing, the images that he could now recall from the forgotten memory began to emerge.

'How dare they!' his inner wolf howled as he remembered everything.

The healer at his side caught the red headed wizard's attention then as the goblin positioned a portable table beside his bed. "Now that we have removed the Obliviate, Mr. Weasley, we must view the buried memory to make sure there are no threats to ourselves or our business."

"This is not in anyway a threat to you," Bill assured the goblin. "In fact, it's extremely personal."

"Forgive me if I don't take your word for it, Mr. Weasley." the goblin chuckled humorlessly. "But don't worry, we goblins have a way to extract and view the memory. We will return it afterward, I assure you."

Bill nodded. "Okay, fine. Let's get this over with. I have somewhere important to be."

Bill was still shaken up from the realization that he had another brother out there somewhere. His only thought was to get back to the Burrow as soon as possible, find the nearest available Pensieve, and show his parents the memory that hopefully would not send them both into cardiac arrest.

Not long afterward, the goblin was finally satisfied that there was nothing in the human's memory that endangered their security, and Bill quickly hurried towards the nearest floo. With a flourish of floo powder and a clear cry of "The Burrow," Bill was stumbling out of the fireplace and into the living room of his childhood home.

Bill ignored the looks of curiosity that he received from his youngest two siblings who - at the moment - were in the middle of a game of Wizard's Chess.

"Where's Harry?" the eldest son demanded, looking to his youngest brother. If anyone knew where Harry was it would be Ron, as he and the dark haired boy were best friends.

"He just floo'd over to Grimmauld for something," Ron replied, turning back to the chess board just as Ginny's knight took out one of her brother's pawns.

Ignoring Ron's loud exclamation, Bill used his wand to cast an Incendio spell to start a small fire in the hearth so be could make a floo call to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Once the flames were roaring, he sprinkled a small amount of floo powder into them. The flames instantly flared up, turning a bright blue color before Bill leaned forward into them.

"Harry! Harry, are you there?" he called out. "I need you to do me an important favor."

By now Molly had entered in from the kitchen, where she had been busy preparing dinner, a worried expression on her face.

"What's this now? Bill, what's going on? I wasn't expecting you until later? And where is Fleur?" the Weasley matriarch asked her eldest son, though he still had his head and shoulders buried in the fireplace. Holding up a hand to let his mother know he would address her in a moment, he instead spoke to Harry who had just appeared in his own living room on the other side.

"Hey, Bill," Harry greeted with a smile that was half cheerful, half confused, as he had no idea what Ron's oldest brother could want from him. "What sort of favor do you need? You know I'll help in any way I can."

"I need to borrow your Pensieve," Bill replied automatically. "Would you mind bringing it to the Burrow as quickly as possible? It's a bit of an emergency."

"Of course," Harry agreed, and Bill withdrew from the hearth to finally address his mother.

"Mum, I need you to go get dad and Percy. Tell them there's a family emergency and that they need to come home. Now." Bill informed his mother.

Molly was staring at him with her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Not until you tell me what this is about, William," she demanded in the stern tone she always used, however, it failed to work on her son this time.

"No, mum, I need you to do this now. I'll explain everything once dad, Percy, and Harry arrive," he commanded.

As Molly went to do as he had instructed, Bill turned back to Ginny and Ron, who by this point had abandoned their game and were staring at their older brother in concern. "Where's George?" he asked them.

Both Ginny and Ron responded by giving him looks that asked if he had lost his mind as they pointed up. George had basically turned into a hermit after the death of his twin and had moved to the family attic to avoid sleeping in their old room.

"Of course." Bill murmured to himself.

He wondered if he should wait on informing George about this or gather him along with the others. Charlie was back in Romania, so he would definitely have to be filled in later, but George was here, though not in the best place mentally. Would this news perhaps help to heal the grieving twin, or would it devastate him even more?

At that moment, a resounding crack sounded outside the Burrow as Harry Apparated in the front yard. Bill ushered the Boy-Who-Lived into the house and after he had pulled a tiny Pensieve out of his pocket, the dark haired wizard cast a counter spell to reverse the shrinking charm he had used in order to transport the object. The two men were setting everything up just as Molly and her husband, along with Percy came back through the floo.

"Now, William, will you please get on with it and tell us what is so important?" Molly fumed, now thoroughly fed up with not knowing what was going on.

Bill hesitated a moment but then decided that a more delicate approach would be needed when it came to filling in George about the existence of a triplet that he'd never known he had. Especially in the wake of the recent loss of Fred. Sighing, Bill turned back to his family as he kicked off the explanation for why he had gathered them and why it was so important.

"Okay, so I went for my yearly physical today," he began but was interrupted by a gasp from his mother.

"Oh, dear Merlin, please tell me you're not ill!" she implored, her voice filling with concern.

"No, mother, nothing like that," Bill assured the panicking woman. "Although they did find something amiss in their scans." Meeting his father's eyes, he continued. "Apparently, I was submitted to an Obliviate curse." at everyone's gasps of shock, Bill held up a hand, signaling there was more.

"I understand the shock, but after the memory was unblocked I discovered that I wasn't the only one to be placed under the spell." he told them as he glanced around the room at his family.

From within the arms of her husband, Molly was staring at Bill with confusion. The same emotion was reflected in the faces of Ron, Ginny and Harry.

Percy glanced from the Pensieve to his oldest brother. "Who else?" the third eldest brother asked, pinning Bill with a look.

With a sigh, Bill ran his hand through his hair. Should he tell them? To be honest, he had been grateful that he'd been forewarned about the curse.

"Mum, Dad, Charlie and you." he answered, looking at Percy.

Molly's hand flew to her mouth as she let out a gasp.

"Dad, maybe you should go first." Bill suggested, "You might be able to help Mum comprehend the information better if you know what it is." Motioning his dad forward, the eldest Weasley son withdrew the wispy memory from his mind and placed it in the Pensieve.

Arthur slowly stepped forward to the basin, lowering his face into the liquid. The room was eerily silent for the next few moments as Arthur Weasley was immersed in the memory. When he finally withdrew, it was sudden and the older Weasley stumbled backward, a devastated expression on his face and tears filling his normally shining eyes.

"Molly-wobbles..." he muttered feebly at his wife, who gave him a fearful look before she approached the Pensieve.

As Bill had predicted, Molly had turned into a hysterical mess upon learning of Harold's existence and Arthur was now holding his sobbing wife as she muttered curses about the previous Minister of Magic.

Bill motioned Percy forward, who took his turn, eventually coming out of the memory with an ashen look of shock. Not wanting to be left out, Ron jumped up and stuck his head into the basin next.

"I was going to let everyone have a go, Ron," Bill muttered at his youngest brother's back with a roll of his eyes.

Ron stepped back from the Pensieve after he had viewed the memory, his face screwed up in a mixture of fury and disgust. "Bloody hell, those great prats." he growled.

Bill gave Ginny a slight nudge, as the youngest Weasley had yet to move toward the Pensieve. After the reactions that the rest of her family had had, she wasn't too eager to see what vision lay within the silvery liquid. Taking a deep breath, she finally dove in, remaining within the depths of the basin until the memory had played through. When she emerged, her look of rage practically matched that of Ron's.

"Those bastards!" she had shouted, and for once her mother did not scold her.

"Harry, you should see this as well, your family after all," Bill said to the last boy in the room, while motioning to the Pensieve.

Harry shot a small smile at the older man before he too submitted to watching Bill's memory play out. Much as Arthur did before him, Harry jerked back with enough force that he stumbled backward and bumped into Ginny after he had watched the memory.

The Weasleys all glanced around at one another, not knowing what to say to express their anguish. Molly's sobbing had died down some but she still had tears streaming down her face. Arthur held her to him tightly in order to stay his own shaking hands.

"Does Charlie know?" Ginny asked.

"I owled him, asking him to come home as soon as he could," Bill answered, shaking his head sadly.

"So... the only person left is..." Percy's voice trailed off weakly.

Everyone present slowly raised their heads up to look at the floors above, towards the little attic room that held a grieving George Weasley.


tbc...